Shit happens.

[Douglas Wilcox]

Spent yesterday...


...washing my kayak...


...and my hat.

Douglas

[Kevin B]

And I spent yesterday in work.....guess I got the messy end of the stick. Great pics, thanks for sharing.

[ian johnston]

Hi Douglas,

Right now my job feels like that every day! :o)

Kind Regards

Ian

[nigelhatton]

Has anyone climbed to the top

[JinjaCoo]

Yes. It is quite a pull on the legs but well worth it.

[Mark R]

Obviously, when you're up there, you have to be careful not to fall into the volcano.

[nigelhatton]

I got as far as the old tower/castle but couldn't manage any further. I wrote this in another forum

Above the lighthouse and buildings there are the remains of an old castle that had been built by monks six hundred years ago, according to my guidebook. I decided to climb the steep narrow path up to it. At the bottom of the path there is a small white cottage that looks as though it's still occupied. In the front window I caught sight of a cat sitting and looking out and then I realised it was a painted clay cat. I carried on up the path with some difficulty but using a stick to help me. I arrived at the remains of the castle and had a rest on an old wall looking out over the sea back to the mainland. The place was covered in bluebells, white gannets, black guillemots and in the distance a black cloud heading this way from the direction I had to return. Where there's rain there's wind I was once told as a fisherman. I sat there for 30 mins thinking and looking, thinking and looking, my imagination entertaining me with ideas for a tourist resort.

[dwrgi]

Forgive my ignorance but where is that?

[maryinoxford]

Subject to correction from Douglas... a big rounded lump of rock covered by gannets is likely to be either Bass Rock (Firth of Forth) or Ailsa Craig (Firth of Clyde). I think that one is Ailsa Craig, although it's not the angle of view I'm most familiar with.

[nigelhatton]

Forgive my ignorance but where is that?

It's Ailsa Craig about 10 miles/2 hrs off Lendalfoot in the Firth of Clyde. If I have read correctly it's the inner plug of granite from a volcanoe. The Granite used to be mined or quaried to make curling stones. The buildings above the beach are deserted and you can walk inside the rooms and find furniture, newspapers, tins of food, cookers etc. I'm a little supersticious and I took nothing from the place when I was there in June.

[Mark R]

The buildings above the beach are deserted and you can walk inside the rooms and find furniture, newspapers, tins of food, cookers etc.

Um, I think you must have entered the RSPB warden's accommodation.

[MikeB]

The buildings above the beach are deserted and you can walk inside the rooms and find furniture, newspapers, tins of food, cookers etc.

Um, I think you must have entered the RSPB warden's accommodation.

ROFLMFAO! Duhhhhh.

[nigelhatton]

The buildings above the beach are deserted and you can walk inside the rooms and find furniture, newspapers, tins of food, cookers etc.

Um, I think you must have entered the RSPB warden's accommodation.

ROFLMFAO! Duhhhhh.

The buildings above the beach are deserted and you can walk inside the rooms and find furniture, newspapers, tins of food, cookers etc.

Um, I think you must have entered the RSPB warden's accommodation.

From the only authority on British seakayaking and his website hench man working side by side as always, contentious and mocking.



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this is one of the kitchens and I'll be right in saying none of you two have been ashore there. How about other paddlers, Douglas?



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This is the warden's part time home, I believe.

[Mark R]

I'll be right in saying none of you two have been ashore there.

You're absolutely right where I'm concerned. I got as far as this sign, and ran away scared.

[zec01]

As always I am amazed at more incredible paddling stories, I dream of visiting places such as this but I have to make do with a bit of armchair paddling and a good imagination.

We really do have the most beautiful coastline

[nigelhatton]

As always I am amazed at more incredible paddling stories, I dream of visiting places such as this but I have to make do with a bit of armchair paddling and a good imagination.

We really do have the most beautiful coastline

What is wrong with your legs? I too have a problem with both my feet but still paddle, I guess you're worse than me.
Douglas Wilcox had written about this island and takes the best pics on the forum so I had a look for myself and turned it all into a 24 day rehabilitation trip. myshort story here
http://smallmotorhome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=5622

I paddle off southend sometimes when the tide is in

[zec01]

I have osteoarthritis in my hips, my right knee and the left knee has been replaced but has left me worse off. I also damaged my back at L5/S1, been told I have complex regional pain syndrome. I use crutches at home and a wheelchair whilst out, my hips cause most paddling problems as I cant let the kayak move under me.

[Douglas Wilcox]

Funnily enough I have also being using Ailsa Craig as part of a rehab program. The angle between my lower leg and upper leg is 5 degrees greater than it should be which has led to recurrent dislocations of both knees, a major operation in one knee and osteoarthritis in both hips.

This was my third trip out to Ailsa Craig this year and yes we did get to the top.

I used walking poles but even so my good knee dislocated twice on the way down and I had two heavy falls...


...it's quite steep on the way down.


Though we didn't come down here.


My right hip was hurting really bad on the way back across to Lendalfoot but it was really worth it. Ailsa Craig is a magical place. In the 1970's I had an enforced stay of a week in what is now the bird warden's cottage. We had gone on an overnight trip being dropped off by a converted old RNLI lifeboat. It was unable to return due to high winds but the lighthouse keepers were very kind and baked bread
for us in the very oven shown in Nigel's photo.

What was really special this year was to see hundreds and hundreds of puffins. In the 70's we saw none, in 2006 we just saw 5! They really are making a comeback after the rats were poisoned.

The volcanic cone that towered above the present plug has been estimated at 15,000 feet high. It was swept away by the Ice Age and bits of Ailsa Craig granite have been found as far south as Wales.

Douglas

[Mark R]

What was really special this year was to see hundreds and hundreds of puffins. In the 70's we saw none, in 2006 we just saw 5! They really are making a comeback after the rats were poisoned.

That is fantastic news! I now have an excuse to return.

[Douglas Wilcox]

Sorry about the blurry photo, it was a bit bouncy round the Craig with clapotis. The puffins are on the grassy banks at the west point of the island and here at the north point near Swine Cave. Puffins survived on the Clyde on Glunimore and Sheep Islands near Sanda. I think the recolonisation has happened from there. Phil saw a puffin off Ayr and Mike and I saw a puffin off Inchmarnock this year.

Douglas

[Skerryvore]

Hi Douglas , We must have been looking at each other last week as I have just returned from going round Arran and visited the fine lighthouse on Pladda.
Great to here about the puffin as have been to Ailsa 3 times and seen none. In the last few weeks I passed a puffin between Arran and Bute and two between Arisaig and Isle Eigg.

__________________
Skerryvore

[PhilAyr]

Hi Douglas ~ That was yet another great trip and the hundreds of puffins flying overhead was an added bonus. Only two low points...The bashing you endured from a slip on the way back down from the top. I hope you are recovering well from that.... and this (me on the right)...
Photo Douglas Wilcox.... The moment I discovered that Mister Nokia had been helping himself to my flask of finest Speyside malt ! Well at least he went out with a smile on his screen !!.. I didn't ;-(

Phil

[nigelhatton]

I doubt I'll ever return to Ailsa Craig and I'll always carry the memory that I failed to get to the top. I couldn't risk tearing a tendon or two in my feet as I was on my own and had previously told the CC that I would have left an hour before. Then there was the wind coming in with white horses below and wasn't sure how my bolt together kayak would manage with me paddling hard, as I always do.

The pictures of you both at the top will remind me that I also failed to get to the top of St Kilda. That I gave up due to Skuas dive bombing me and I never realised the bits of pallet on the ground were there to wave above my head to scare them off. I was warned about Skuas before hand but probably forgot and I thought it wrong to be in their space and near their nest so I turned back quickly.

At Bass Rock the Gannets covered me in white slush and I couldn't wash it off til I got to the cave on the north side and then that place stank.

Scotland is really a fantastic place to paddle,especially with a motorhome and shower, toilet, cooker/microwave etc. Only thing I missed was not being able to walk as well as others and the climbs I failed. Oh,and a complete blast around Scarp.



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Did you ever see this working Douglas on Craig? back before my time maybe

[PhilAyr]

Scotland is really a fantastic place to paddle,especially with a motorhome and shower, toilet, cooker/microwave etc. Only thing I missed was not being able to walk as well as others and the climbs I failed. Oh,and a complete blast around Scarp.

Hi Nigel : I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. You did very well to achieve what you did. Going up to the castle is a serious and exposed climb, especially with an injured foot ! Lesser mortals wouldn't even contemplate a solo paddle to the Craig, let alone attempt to climb to the top. I know I wouldn't !

Phil

[Mark R]

What was really special this year was to see hundreds and hundreds of puffins. In the 70's we saw none, in 2006 we just saw 5! They really are making a comeback after the rats were poisoned.

Slightly tangential, but I've just this moment learned that puffins (after numbering just a handful) have made a big comeback to Lundy Island in Devon this year, for the exact same reason - now numbering in the hundreds. Rather fine news, given the name of the island.

[Kayaks'N'Beer]

A couple of us are thinking about heading round the milestone this coming weekend, if the conditions stay favourable. We were looking at Pladda as a campspot. Wikipedia describes it as "Uninhabited" but the picture shows a pretty well repaired white building with outhouse, down by the shore. Don't suppose this would happen to be a bothy?

[PhilAyr]

Hi K&B ~

Douglas, myself and the team did the Lendalfoot - Ailsa Craig - Arran trip a few years ago. I don't remember a bothy on Pladda but I do remember hundreds of seagulls. If you would prefer the **** not to happen, and would like a good nights sleep away from screaming gulls, then I would highly recomend the campsite at the Kildonan Hotel, Arran (a few km further on) where a warm shower, followed by a nice cool pint of the brown stuff awaits. The campsite is not expensive and sits by the beach.

Phil

[Kayaks'N'Beer]

Cheers Phil. I've camped at Kildonan the time we did a circumnavigation of Arran so I'll put it to the trip planner. Not really sure why he'd picked Pladda as a stopping point anyway but I'm pretty sure when I remind him there's a pub right next to the tend he'll be open to a slight change in itinerary.